SLVR

Vance blinked as Gabe brought his gaze up to the panther boy's own. Blushing for a moment, Vance sighed with a pout and started to move to eat, keeping an arm wrapped around Gabe the whole while. Sylvia relaxed, seeing her teammate start to eat. Soon enough it was time for the two teams to head to classes. The day seemed to go mostly well. Vance had cheered up from the morning, and nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be going on. It seemed that Vance's feelings had been unfounded. Everything went by as normal... at least until their second to last period.

SLVR had been walking through the halls, hurrying to get to their next period when Vance noticed something strange. There seemed to be far more students than usual. He paused, ignoring the curious and concerned looks from his teammates as he looked around the room. Faunus students stood at various parts of the halls, most of them the boy couldn't recognize from their usual trips down the hall. He didn't think there were that many faunus kids going to Beacon. Last he checked there were mostly humans learning to be hunters. Sylvia seemed to have noticed his uneasiness as she started to look around the hall for something amiss. For a few moments, nothing happened. The seconds ticked by when a majority of the new faunus almost in sync pulled on a familiar mask. Vance's eyes widened. Oh no. No, no, no this couldn't be happening. He started to turn, dashing down the hall. The attack began.

"Vance!" Sylvia called. SLVR was suddenly thrust into the middle of the action as the new faunus students, the White Fang from what their masks looked like, attacked unsuspecting Beacon students and faculty. "After him, now!" She called to her teammates, already in leader mode as she rushed down the hall trying to find the wolf boy. The trio lost sight of him soon after the attack began, weaving and ducking between fights and scuffles as the school suddenly became a battle ground. Sylvia's mind was running, trying to figure out just why the boy had dashed away from them. There was no reason for him to leave them all in the middle of this madness. They should have stuck together, gotten their weapons, and gotten ready to defend themselves. Just what was Vance thinking?!

~~~

Vance didn't look where he was going, just running as he passed by random skirmishes around the school. He had to get his weapons first. Then he had to stop this. He panted as he ran into the room, grabbing his gauntlets before running out. Panting, the boy looked around for a familiar face, or at the very least a familiar figure. He ran out towards the front of the school, stopping in his tracks as he saw a tall figure watching the chaos before him. The man had the gall to go unmasked, his face settled in cold indifference. His amber eyes looked so similar to Vance's own, though they lacked the warmth and excitement the wolf boy possessed. The man was clearly a faunus, the wolf tail sitting languidly behind him making it impossible for him not to be. He stood a head taller than Vance and used this to his advantage as he turned his attention to the wolf boy. While his salt and pepper hair blew in the wind, the man watched Vance glare at him. "Ah, Vance. So you finally decided to come home." Vance growled at the older man, falling into a fighting position. "So hostile. Is that how you greet your father?" The man, Vance's father, raised an eyebrow. Vance couldn't seem to hold back anymore. He ran straight at the man.

His first few punches were blocked easily. Vance's father didn't seem to break a sweat as he easily brushed off his son's bullet fueled punches. He ducked and punched Vance's gut. The wolf boy winced before his semblance kicked in. The taller man's eyes widened as he was suddenly thrown back by the force of his own punch, leaving Vance to take advantage of the moment of weakness and start his attack anew. "Ah, so you've learned some new tricks at Beacon." Mr. Faolan mused, now careful of his son's new ability. He avoided the wolf boy's punches, almost as if the wolf was boring him with his repeated swinging. "Though not good enough. If you'd just come with me then you could learn so much more." He leaned away from another punch, his eyes ever observing.

"Never, Daman." Vance growled, going at it once again as he twisted and started to open fire on his father. The man tsked as he jumped out of the way easily, circling the boy almost tauntingly.

Before Vance could react, Daman was behind him and getting a hit ready. "Didn't I teach you that it's rude to call your father by his first name?" The man scolded before bringing the hit down on Vance, sending him flying. Vance gasped at the suddenness, but didn't let it hinder him as he twisted around and started his assault anew.

~~~

Sylvia frowned as they couldn't seem to figure out where the wolf boy had gone. No matter where they looked, they couldn't find a glimpse of the fluffy haired boy anywhere. Just as Sylvia was about to turn down a new hall, she caught sight of a familiar blur out a window. She slid to a stop, taking a moment to see if this truly was their wolf boy. Her posture stiffened as she recognized the blur trying to attack the man who clearly looked far older and more experienced than any of them. "Do you have your weapons?" She asked her team. "If not, get them. We need to go to the front of the school and get Vance out of there, now." With the orders given. Sylvia started to run.
 
Gabe nodded in approval as Vance ate, allowing the wolf to keep a grip on him as needed. That seemed to do the trick for the day. Vance's worries, however jarring, hadn't come about, and everything seemed normal. Of course, the only one who could have known differently was Seymour, who, after breakfast, ordered his team to collect their weapons and keep them near. Whatever the wolf had felt, it was instinctual, and had some basis to it.

So when the fights broke out, SAGE's reaction was immediate. Malice, scorn, anger... the gazelle faunus was a radar to them all, and stormed across the school to become a hero to the unprepared.

Meanwhile, Lev had gone into information overload. The white fang appear? Vance just runs off? Too many coincidences to count. Way too many. The raven haired boy had his locker coordinates set before Vance even passed out of sight. A few hand-to-hand takedowns saw him to where his locker landed, and soon his new weapon was equipped and ready to see combat. It had seen a few test runs and tweaks, but this was the real deal now. Despite his worries for Vance, Lev was just as eager to see how well he could perform now.

Reyna, on the other hand, went into a whole different kind of info overload, stumbling around like a drunk as soon as Vance ran off. Everything was loud, and confusing, and where was Sylvia going, and why did Lev have his phone out? Did Vance forget something from the room? Was this a class drill? What was with the masks?

...what was with those masks?

Reyna was finally able to compose her thoughts just in time to catch an attacker in the jaw. Knowing what she knew helped the last puzzle pieces to click, but it didn't make the reality any easier. Even in the midst of this nightmare, she couldn't just tell Sylvia that a good half of his family was probably involved in this mess. Instead, she followed her team, using her bear hands to plow through anyone who got in their way. It was only when Sylvia gave the word that she called her weapon to her. Now with her shield equipped and Vance in sight once more, she was ready to fight. They all were.

"What's the plan, Syv?" Lev asked, keeping his pace matched with hers as they booked it to the front of the school. "I can get Vance out of harm's way if you get me an opportunity, but what about the old guy? With how he and Vance were moving, it'd be too risky for me to try and cover from afar."

"Yeah, a-and don't forget," Reyna was huffing to keep up with her more spry teammates, "this is the White Fang! You c-can't give them a single inch." Something about that statement caused the pinkette's gut to churn, as though a memory was trying to force itself into her head, but she bit her tongue and kept running, fighting it off with raw exhaustion.
 
Sylvia chewed her lip as Lev asked her what the plan was. "I'll get you a distraction. Once you get Vance out we run. This man's obviously older than us and more powerful. We'll alert one of the professors to deal with him then go help anyone else who needs it. Right now, I want us to focus on getting Vance away and safe." The trio reached the area just as Sylvia finished her explanations. Before they could actually try to put their plan into action, a blur tried to take Sylvia out. She dodged, forced away from her team as she faced off against the new figure, obviously a female. She also seemed to forgo a mask as she started to lunge for Sylvia again, her two dagger-like blades glinting. Sylvia back flipped away from the girl, trying to parry the blades with her own before landing.

"You shouldn't interfere with father-son bonding." The girl noted, her amber eyes glaring. "Though if you intend to keep my brother away from his family again, I will have to kill you." Her brown-blonde hair was pulled into a braid, showing off proudly her wolf ears. Her weapons sat on her knuckles, the handles forming into what looked like a gun if flipped around. The daggers were obviously Katar from what Sylvia could tell. She didn't get a chance to further analyze before the girl was on her again, managing to get a hit as Sylvia tried to find a way to get past the girl and towards Vance. "I don't think you'll get past me so easily." The other girl taunted, managing another hit.

Jumping away from the girl, Sylvia glared right back. The girl was taking out chunks of her aura at a time and moved quick enough to get hits in when Sylvia tried to dodge. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm going to go get my teammate back. If I have to get through you to do it then so be it." With that the silverette rushed at the girl. Trying to throw her off balance with the sudden aggressiveness. Sylvia grappled with the girl, trying to find a way to get a hit and get her out of the way, wincing as the girl managed to land a few more hits.

Before Lev or Reyna could go to help, two more faunus joined the fray. One, a wolf faunus, wrapped a chain around Lev and throw him to the ground before pulling the chain back to him. The weapon was obviously some form of chain scythe attached to a short sword. The boy who attacked Lev held a cold look, though there was an anger in his amber eyes. His tail stood straight up, the fur on end. "You know, it's taken a long time to finally get the resources to properly track my little brother down and bring him back to us. I'd prefer if you didn't get in the way." He looked like an older Vance with narrower eyes and less warmth. Unlike the girl, he waited for Lev to make the first move before retaliating. Whenever the ravenette seemed like he was going to get too close to any of the other fights, the boy would pull him back and bring him back into the fight. When the wolf struck, he struck hard and fast, not giving Lev much time to react before he was on the defensive again, watching his opponent's every move.

The second faunus had long ram horns protruding from her head. She smiled as she worked to cut Reyna off from the rest of her team. "Now, who do we have here? A pretty little pinkette trying to help foil our plans? You're not even worth the dirt I walk on." She giggled, swinging her axe around her head as she got ready to attack. "Bonnie's the name! Thought you might wanna have a name to the last face you'll ever see." She smiled as she rushed Reyna, cutting past defenses to get a hit in. She swung indiscriminately, the force behind her hits large enough to rival a titan's. Despite her hard hits, it was harder to get a hit in as Bonnie constantly moved around to find new positions to swing at Reyna from.

Hearing his team's footsteps distracted Vance long enough for Daman to get a hit in. The wolf boy gasped and choked as he was practically thrown several feet away. Slowly getting up, the wolf boy could feel his blood freeze as he saw two familiar figures begin to attack his teammates. "Ed? Ferris?" He questioned, watching the two fight two of his teammates. Getting up, Vance turned his attention back to his father. "I won't let you hurt my friends!" He growled before launching his attacks once again.

Daman simply dodged Vance's attempts as he observed his son. "Oh, but I'm not the one hurting them. I really didn't expect you to make friends here, much less human ones. A bit disappointing, but you'll be making more faunus friends soon once you come with me." He tilted his head in amusement as he watched Vance try to get a hit in. "I miss you, you know. We all do. We'd love to have you in the White Fang, Vance. We're doing so much good for Faunus everywhere. Just think how much more you could do if you joined?" He dodged another hit, using Vance's momentum to throw him to the ground.

The wolf boy grunted as he hit the ground, scrambling to get back up. "You're hurting the faunus community! Going around attacking people and destroying things just makes us look like animals!" He growled, using his bullets to propel him forward and try to get a good hit on his father. "I'm never going to go with you!" He declared.
 
"Syv!" Lev yelled as she was dragged into a fight nobody expected. He lunged to help, but was tugged back by an intense force, pulled into a fight of his own. With Reyna getting caught up against someone else, Lev came to terms with the one-on-ones, and armed himself anew. Basic analytics told Lev his opponent had a tight defense right off the bat. With those eyes and that sort of stance, along with refusing to make the first move, he gave himself off way too easily...underestimating someone like him wouldn't end well.

"If you don't want trouble, you should start by taking away his choices!" Lev rebutted, slinging out his rifle with an equally cold glare. Chain. Sword. Scythe...he's got me covered from head to toe...but I'm a sharpshooter, damnit! My pride's on the line! "You won't get anywhere fighting me, I'm warning you now."

Lev's first step was towards his opponent, but he spun on a dime to fire against Sylvia's opponent. A half step back into position, and the black haired boy had a knife in his hand, ready for the rebuttal that his opponent would offer. It wasn't much of a defense, but it was enough to keep his rifle in hand for a second shot, this time fired straight at his attacker. More momentum, another full step, a second knife, a third shot at his opponent. Beat by beat, Lev paced along the lines of his opponent's defense, taking potshots for his friends whenever he could see an opening. He had trained too long to get hit once and drop. Instead, if the wolf got up close and took a swing, Lev took it and used the recoil to fire at someone else. Using a blade against this guy would just be too much of a risk. Once he steps up to me...that's when I'll let loose.

-

By the ram girl's first swing, Reyna swore she got the raw end of the deal. With Vance, Sylvia, and Lev in her peripherals, it was way too hard to focus on the wildly swinging axe tearing into her shield. Of course, the pinkette wasn't slowed by the onslaught. Her semblance let her meet every blow without flinching in the slightest, and her training finally gave her the proficiency to retaliate at a professional level of speed. Her fight ended up devolving to running around her shield to avoid the axe while looking for an opening to fight through, but even that got tiring after a while.

Time to show off what being the girlfriend to one of the strongest guys in school can do for ya! Reyna grinned, taking the handle to what would have been her war-fan, and yanking it out of the opposite end, completely detaching it from the giant shield. Just as Bonnie's axe made contact with the shield, Reyna gave the handle, now a massive iron rod, a swing plenty hard enough to rival her opponent, backed with the love that came with her relationship with AZUR's premier weapon-handler. Reyna wanted to accentuate the surprise weapon by saying something cool, but once she felt safe enough to get a good look at her opponent's face, all that came out was, "Your horns look really CUTE!" And with that, she slammed her staff into Bonnie's waist with all her might, using the momentum to fling her away.

From then on, all hell broke loose between the two. Reyna let her full salvo fly; missiles, rockets, and bombs aplenty, more to hide her embarrassment than anything. Why'd they all have to be faunus? She whimpered to herself from behind her shield.
 
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Sylvia appreciated the occasional potshot, though they didn't do anything as Ed seemed to either dodge just in time or block it with what looked like a shield made of aura. So that was the girl's semblance... Sylvia frowned and dodged another thrust, bringing her foot up to try and get at least a hit in. She managed to surprise the girl as she twisted, hitting the girl twice as she fell to her hands, flipping over. Ed growled. Despite this interference, she kept up her attacks, slowly chipping Sylvia's aura away. The silverette panted, trying to find some way, any way to get past the girl and to Vance. She just had to get Vance and get out of there. She flipped out of the way of a thrust, trying to catch Ed with her blades. Ed ducked, thrusting out and catching Sylvia's arm, making the girl wince as she felt Ed take another chunk out of her aura. Despite their attempts, SLVR's opponents were all older and stronger than they were. Their only chance to get out of this was to grab Vance and go. However their opponents didn't seem too keen on letting them get anywhere near Vance or Daman.

~~~

Ferris scoffed as Lev tried to help out his teammates while fighting him. "Hey! Stop bothering my siblings and focus on me. It's not nice to ignore your opponent after all." He swung his chain around Lev's legs, tripping him and pulling him towards the wolf. Ferris brought his sword down, getting in a few hits before jumping away, pulling his scythe back to him and flipping it, revealing a gun. He shot back at his opponent, dodging out of the way of the bullets shot at him. "You think we're giving him a choice? He's coming with us, whether you humans like it or not." He snarled, jumping toward the ravenette. He threw his chain, wrapping it around Lev's hands and pulling them away before slashing. With that he flipped out of the way, pulling his chain back to him and resuming the gun fight. The fight felt like a predator playing with its prey, Ferris focusing solely on Lev and keeping him busy.

~~~

The rod surprised Bonnie, allowing Reyna to get a good hit in, but it didn't do much. She let out a loud laugh as Reyna exclaimed how "cute" her horns were, a devilish gleam in her eye. "Ah, thank you pinkie! Good to know my victims see something cute before they die." With that she dodged out of the way of the bombs, missiles, and chaos Reyna threw at her. She weaved and bobbed, smiling the entire time. Once she got close enough, she started to attack. While on one side Reyna could defend, a shadowy clone popped up on the other side, landing an attack before disappearing. With this clone, Bonnie double teamed Reyna, not letting up as she worked to get her aura down enough to land a killing blow.

~~~

Vance tried to focus solely on his father, but he was having trouble. His teammates and siblings were fighting. If he didn't stop this soon then they would... he didn't let himself entertain the thought. Instead he focused all of his energy on fighting his father. No matter what the wolf boy did, it seemed like he couldn't get a hit. Daman was too fast, and he kept looking at him with those damn disapproving eyes! Vance didn't need any judgement from his father, and he most certainly didn't need those looks. "Why won't you just let me hit you?!" Vance finally growled out of frustration, his movements becoming erratic.

"Ah, but then I wouldn't get to see your full capabilities, Vance." Daman responded, rolling under a punch and throwing Vance off guard. "You've grown so much. I missed you will we were gone. I wish I could have shown you how to punch correctly." He ducked under another flying fist, standing behind the wolf boy. "How to use your weapons. How to land a killing blow." Daman flipped over Vance, watching as the wolf boy turned around in confusion before launching his attacks again. "I've missed so much of your life along with your siblings. If you could just come with me, we could be a family again. We could show the world just how powerful faunus can be." He ducked under his son. "We could rule the world, Vance." With that Daman finally struck out, smiling as he felt half of his blow come back to him, Vance jumping back and wincing from the force he took.
 
"You hardly qualify as an opponent." Lev scoffed, even as he was being dragged around by the chain. He knew he was probably outclassed, but the bitterness of loss was a taste he was determined never to savor again. Seeing the opposite end of his parents in Vance's family drove Lev to fight harder than ever before. Ferris's bullets were easy enough to dodge, and though the chain was obnoxious, and the sword vicious, it didn't put Lev out enough to force him into using his semblance. "I'm pretty sure you qualify even less as any family of Vance's, but that's my opinion." He continued, meeting Ferris bolt for bullet and then some. Lev's aura was succumbing to the fight's intensity, especially since he was splitting his attention so much, but there wasn't any other way he would've wanted it. Once again he plotted his steps, avoided the chain and sword, and continued taking deviant shots, spreading his range to Bonnie and Daman as well.

"It's not just us humans that want Vance to stick around," Lev pressed the topic, feeling at ease when talking during combat, "He's got a boyfriend, too. Besides," Lev shrugged as he knifed away the chain, sticking the blade into its links and digging it into the ground before making a careful approach, "you all just made an open assault on Vale's most influential facility. As the son of a lawyer, I can definitely say that you're digging your family's grave here." Lev worked with the time he had in his offensive, forgoing projectiles just for a moment. Ferris was fast in his defense, but the ravenette expected as much. With the butt of his rifle, Lev bashed at individual digits of his opponent's hand whenever he made a swing. The strategy came with its risks, and Lev ended up backing off with a few more cuts than he'd have liked, but it was a good break from the gunfire and chain whip. Now he at least felt refreshed to keep up the fight.

-

Meanwhile, Reyna had to dig in hard in order to stand a chance against Bonnie's revealed semblance. It was difficult initially, but speed and rhythm eventually found the pinkette's favor, as did her basic combat strengths. Instead of focusing on her defense as Bonnie had started to abuse, Reyna put her back to the inside of her shield, digging it into the ground and using the back of her foot as an anchor. The angled edges were her saving grace, protecting her back, head, and shoulders from whatever onslaught Bonnie could dish out. And with her back covered, handling attacks from the front became less of a threat, and more of a chore. Much as she wanted to retort about her newfound strategy to Bonnie, the embarrassment from her last comment cut deeper than any axe, so she remained silent. Instead, she pushed. As she fought with the ram girl, she forced her shield to dig a path behind her, forging on like a tank in a straight, slow path directly to Vance. It hardly mattered if Bonnie noticed now. Her footing was anchored in the shadow of her shield, and her steps, though slow, were unchangeable. Such was the power of the tiny titan's semblance.
 
Oh Ferris did not like Lev's words at all. He would've loved to retort, but he caught his father's eyes. With a hurried signal, Ferris knew their time was almost up. It was either now or never. So the wolf boy feinted coming from the left, turning to the right and expertly throwing his chain. Around and around the wolf boy went until Lev was completely tied up, unable to move an inch as he forced the boy to the ground, restricted. Ferris kicked away his weapons before stepping a foot on Lev's neck. The wolf boy strangely had no bottoms to his shoes, but Lev soon saw why. The ravenette soon started to feel his energy start to leave him, as if Ferris was physically stealing his aura. Ferris kept the sharpshooter still, standing over him as if he was a felled beast.

With one member tied up, Bonnie got the notice and merged back to one person. "Sorry, pinkie. I wish I could play with you a little longer, but we gotta scram." She winked before dashing right in front of Reyna, getting close enough that their noses nearly touched. Her eyes sparkling, the ram woman gave Reyna's forehead a kiss before bringing her axe up and slicing it down, leaving a bleeding wound in its wake. A deep cut opened in Reyna's left shoulder. Bonnie laughed as she left the poor pinkette bleeding, starting to flee from the scene.

Sylvia had been grappling with Ed when she saw her two teammates in trouble. "Reyna! Lev!" She screamed. This gave Ed the advantage she needed. With one quick swipe she landed her final hit. Time seemed to go in slow motion as Sylvia realized she was falling. Sparks flew from where Ed had cut her legs. Sylvia fell to the ground with a grunt, realizing with horror that her legs had been cut off. Before Sylvia could try and move, Ed came up and planted a foot on her arm. The wolf girl slowly put more and more pressure until there was a sickening crack. Sylvia couldn't hold back the scream of pain as she felt her arm break. Bone poked out of the bleeding muscle as Sylvia panted, tears trailing down her face. Ed took a step back as she admired her handiwork, turning her attention to her father so they could finish this.

All around the team, the White Fang was running back to their escape, all of them seemingly going to random places and creating mass chaos. Vance was struck with fear as he saw his teammates, injured and unable to move before turning to his father. "You... BASTARD! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" With that he struck as if he were up against a raging grimm. The boy didn't hold back, using his semblance and his weapon to his full advantage as he worked desperately to avenge his teammates. He pounced and twisted, trying to find every and any angle he could to get the upper hand. Fury burned bright in his eyes.

Pain swiftly replaced that fury as Daman made his move. While Vance had become more aggressive, his defense had gone out the window. Daman took advantage of his son's recklessness. He grabbed Vance, throwing him up in the air and roundhouse kicking him. The beating didn't stop there. Once Vance fell to the ground, Daman proceeded to kick him. He didn't give Vance any time to retaliate or get back up. The older faunus threw Vance around as if he were a rag doll. Vance could only take it as bruises started to form. Finally the man seemed to finish his beating, giving one last punch that had Vance flying to the ground. Blood gushed down his face though the boy didn't seem to be seriously injured. He tried to get back up, glaring as his father started to walk toward him.

"So, are you ready to come with us now?" Daman asked, standing over Vance as he watched him. Vance growled, spitting some blood up at Daman. The older wolf sighed. "Pity." With a swift kick to Vance's head he knocked the wolf boy out. He got his foot ready, about to keep going when he was interrupted.

"Dad, let's take him and go." Ed started. stepping toward the two males. "He can't disagree if he's unconscious."

Daman took a moment to stare at his daughter before shaking his head. "He'd only start rebelling. We have to kill him." He ignored the shocked gasps as he got ready once again.

Ferris looked like he was ready to get over there and tackle his father. "What?! No! You can't kill Vance! He's our little brother!" He argued, tightening his grip on the chains.

Ed quickly spoke up. "Yeah! And we could just keep him with us until he realizes what good we're doing! Dad, let's just take him with us!"

"Are you disobeying me?" Daman turned his cold stare to his two children. "I love Vance as much, if not more, than both of you. Do you not think I wouldn't hesitate to bring him with us if I could?" The two backed off at his words, looking down with tails drooping and ears flattening. "Exactly. This is the best for everyone. Now, Ed. Hurry to the escape route. Ferris and I will follow once I-" He stopped at the sound of a gun cocking.

Sylvia held a small pistol out in front of her, panting and sweating. While the trio of faunus had been arguing, Sylvia had managed to pull the gun she always kept on her, hidden and out of sight, for this kind of occasion. Despite her best efforts, her hand was shaking. "You... You're not going to kill him... You won't kill my teammate. I... I won't... let... my teammate die." She gritted out, trying desperately to steady her hand as she aimed at the wolf man.

Daman scoffed. "Are you going to kill me with that tiny thing?" He mocked, staring down at the silverette. She shot. Daman didn't even have to move as the bullet missed its target. "You missed." He stated, raising an eyebrow at Sylvia, daring her to try again.

The gun still shook in her hand, but Sylvia smirked. "I won't miss this time." She stated, her eyes starting to glow. Some of the fleeing White Fang's guns were taken, floating over to the silverette and aiming at Daman. Each gun had a faint silvery green glow around it, matching the color from the silverette's eyes. As the last of the White Fang left, she could hear familiar shouts coming closer. Her vision started to get blurry as she tried to hear what Daman said. The trio of attackers ran from the scene. Sylvia's world went to black just as she heard a familiar voice call out her name.

~~~

The next thing the team knew, most of them were all in a hospital room. Vance laid still unconscious on a bed to the far right. Two young faunus, a boy and girl looking no older than 10, cuddled up to his unconscious form. An older woman sat next to his bed with her head in her hands. All three had the same brown-blond hair and amber eyes. The woman's hair was cut into a short bob, and her wolf ears pulled back. The boy's tail had drooped while the girl's ears were pulled back just like the woman's. Nobody near Vance's bed spoke, all of them simply keeping watch over the boy as they waited for him to wake up.

While Lev, Vance, and Reyna were all in the room together, Sylvia seemed nowhere to be found. It seemed strange to put three in one room together yet leave one person out. The room seemed to hold apprehension and fear as the team tried to piece together everything that happened and wait for all of their members to wake up.
 
Lev knew he couldn't keep up at the rate he was going. He spread himself too thin trying to save his team, and for what? Maybe if he had been paying more attention, he could've taken Ferris down; he could've seen through the feint. Years of training, studying, working...and it was all lost because of what? Because he cared too much about someone else? Even with these thoughts running through his mind, Lev felt at peace with the end result. He shouldn't have, buckling, choking, and suffering under the weight of Ferris's foot, but he did. The guys at Signal would've never believed it.

Reyna was far less graceful in her loss. Bonnie made it look easy, ripping straight through her shoulder. Had her aura been that low? The pinkette didn't notice until it was too late. As the ram girl left, Reyna's jaw quivered, and she looked at her wound in pure terror. Beneath the blood and muscle, she saw shattered bone, and immediately lost consciousness.

-

Then it was over. Where they were, nobody knew. What they had done, nobody could remember. Reyna was out cold on her hospital bed, and Lev was up, though in no mood to move. In fact, he wasn't sure what mood to be in. Vance was in his own alcove of faunus; likely more family. Reyna was uncharacteristically quiet as she rested. Sylvia was nowhere to be found. And to top it all off, Lev wasn't even sure how long he had been up. The transition from dying to resting seemed instantaneous to him, and the more he thought about it, the more his stomach tore itself up.

"Did we win...or lose?" He found himself trying to speak, though his mouth was dry, and his words barely came as a whisper. The words brought more thoughts; more doubts with them, tearing into his head like fangs and claws. The thoughts turned into a migraine, and the ravenette began to cry. He did his best to hold it in, but then he figured it was pointless to try, so his crying turned to sobbing. His thoughts were relentless though. Rather, his thinking was relentless. Just stop he'd tell himself, only to remember something that he couldn't help but pick apart. Sylvia's legs getting cut off. Blood spurting from behind Reyna's shield. Vance getting mauled. The guns. Gods, the guns... Lev began to disect his thoughts so much that he wasn't sure if he was making the scene up or not anymore. Was I even conscious? When did it all fade to black? Or did it fade to white? Did we win, or lose? Tears slid down Lev's face nonstop, his teeth were clenched, his eyes were open...and worst of all, he knew he could move. His wounds were slight. His legs were there. His arms were functional. He was tired, but tired was nothing. No, he could move, but his chest felt so weighted down that even shifting his position on the bed made it feel like a box of rocks would crush his lungs and ribs from the inside out. That wasn't even mentioning how his heart felt.

Where the hell is Syv?
 
Lev's sobbing permeated the room. Nobody moved, stuck in their positions as if they were all statues. Despite clearly hearing the boy's cries, none of the faunus family moved from their positions. Either they didn't know what to do or simply didn't notice. For what felt like an eternity, the room stood still. Then familiar shouting came through the halls. The closer it got, the more words Lev could make out. "... No, there's gotta be something else you can do! There has to be another way!" A masculine voice begged. The sudden noise caused the two young faunus to poke their heads up, turning to try and see where the voice was coming from while still keeping their watch over Vance.

"Sir, the antibiotics we've given her don't seem to be working. We can't let the infection worsen worse than it already has." An exhausted voice replied as a doctor slowly came into view. A tall man with short silver hair and bright green eyes followed the doctor. He wore combat gear, obviously a hunter, though the holsters around his waist were empty. The wrinkles on his face were bunched up, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the doctor with pleading eyes.

"I refuse! There has to be something else you all can do! You already took her legs, you are not taking her arm too." The man asserted, full out glaring at the doctor. "You're going to find some way to fix this! You doctors already took her legs from her, you can't take another limb from her. I'm not going to let you take her arm too!" He didn't seem to notice how loud his voice had gotten, his arms crossed as his muscles bulged.

The doctor sighed before turning his tone stern. "Mr. Slater. Calm down and lower your voice. We are doing the best we can, but if the infection continues to worsen throughout the next 48 hours then we will have to amputate. It is either that or let your daughter die. Now, I need to go attend to some other patients." With that he turned, leaving Mr. Slater standing in front of SLVR's room.

The faunus woman's ears had picked up when they heard Mr. Slater's name. She slowly stood up, walking up to the man and staring straight up at him. "You... You're Miss Slater's father, aren't you?" She asked, an unrecognizable spark in her eyes.

Mr. Slater raised an eyebrow, turning to the woman with crossed arms. "I'm Mr. Slater, yes. But please, call me Flint. Was there something you needed?" He asked, waiting for the woman to explain.

The woman bristled, glaring at the man. "My name is Valerie Faolan. If it wasn't for your daughter, my son wouldn't be lying nearly dead on a hospital bed!" She hissed, gesturing to Vance. Valerie shook with unbridled rage. Her ears were pulled back as she bared her teeth at the silver haired man in front of her.

Flint blinked before glaring right back. "If it wasn't for my daughter, your son would be dead right now! How dare you accuse her of this!" He bit back, going back into a defensive posture. Electricity seemed to crackle in the air as the two prepared for a screaming match.

"Well, she was his 'leader', yes? Then she should have taken better care to protect him and keep him from getting hurt like this!" Valerie shot back, desperate to find someone to blame for the situation her son was in.

"She did exactly what she was supposed to! She got her team out alive! Don't you dare go blaming her for something that wasn't her fault!" The fight was escalating. Flint puffed up his chest, getting in Valerie's face as she kept accusing Sylvia of being the main problem to Vance's situation.

Valerie prepared to shoot back when the young faunus boy pulled on her skirt, his tail drooping. "Mommy, you're gonna wake up Vance. And you're scaring Leyla." He gestured to the wolf girl looking at her mother with wide eyes and a trembling lower lip. Valerie drooped at seeing her children. She threw Flint one last glare before returning to Vance's side, pulling the two younger ones into a hug.

Flint had been about to leave in a huff when he noticed the very much awake Lev. "Oh, good to see one of you is awake." He noted, forcing himself to try and calm down as he walked over toward the raven haired boy. "You all put us through quite a scare." The man explained as he pulled up a chair to sit next to Lev's bed. "When we found you all passed out and injured, we assumed the worst. Luckily you all seem to be making good recoveries... Oh crap, are you okay?" Flint asked, finally taking note of the tears and sobs leaving the boy. "Oh geeze, does it hurt? Where does it hurt? I'm going to call the nurse." The silver haire dman spoke in rapid succession, his brows creased in worry for Lev as he hurried to find the button to call the nurses to the room.
 
Lev's tears began to recede as voices woke him from his waking nightmare. He still had a massive migraine, but at least now he had something else to focus on. But then he heard "Slater," and began listening harder, and the harder he listened, the more his heart pounded. Then Flint walked in, and Vance's mom turned around, and everything started to fall apart again. She was yelling, he was yelling, and Lev found it in him to hate them both for just standing over his unmoving form, bickering like children. The ravenette had so much to say. So many insensitive, hurtful, blaming, honest thoughts to say out loud. His mouth wanted to run off, to be apart of the waking world so his head could catch a break. Vance's mom was so in the wrong it hurt. Hypocrite, liar, not as blameless as she'd like to be. Some family she was. Lev wasn't about to cut her slack just because she was Vance's mom. After all, he knew how bad parents could get without a background in fighting. Then there was Flint, not even coming close to handling the situation well. Logically, Sylvia could stand to lose her arm. It'd probably only make her better at her job. That's just the way she was. Plus it'd probably save her life. And now he was raising his voice against a mother who felt slighted, looking for something to blame that wasn't her own kin. Just because she was dead wrong didn't mean the situation had to progress in such a defensive way...

Then Lev hiccuped, and he remembered that he was still alive, in the room, present in the situation. More importantly, he remembered he had changed, so he began to think of things in a new light. Vance's mom, hypocrite as she was, was still an honest mother to one child that wanted to make a real difference for his family. Lev may not have had the best mom to compare to for himself, but he had seen the faces of many parents in the course of his mother's career, and they gave him an idea of what a real family ought to be like. There was no doubt in Lev's mind that the younger faunus would have to deal with their father eventually, and he couldn't shake the idea that if Vance couldn't do it, they wouldn't have a chance. His teammate was always an unsung hope, and looking over at him, Lev finally saw it for himself. Whether Valerie realized it or not, she was purely dependent on Vance's to keep the rest of her family safe. Then there was Flint, a father. Sacrificing another bit of his daughter's flesh, no matter how necessary, wasn't acceptable, especially after all she had been through. It'd tear into her as much as her family. It is, after all, a parent's duty to protect their child's humanity. Losing more and more of Syv to machines and mechanics just felt like an all-too-real transition from kindhearted human to ruthless killing machine. Sure, nothing would happen until they had to touch her brain, but the symbolism still stood.

It kicked in somewhere along his thought process that Lev hated himself more than anyone in the room, but that was natural. He thought he had died doing something good, but looking back told him otherwise. He wasted time. He talked in combat. He wasn't focused. He didn't use his beautifully crafted blade. He didn't even use his semblance! What kind of hunter drops before letting everything out? Lev's thoughts stopped drenching the parents in the room, and receded back into his skull to haunt him further, and once again, he began to sob.

Then Sylvia's father moved over to him; started talking like...what, like Lev was a charity case? Like Flint hadn't just been yelling at a woman for desperately trying to preserve a non-existant family? Who did he think he was? Finally Lev found a reason to move. Sure, the reason was purely pride and fury, but at least he could move. The raven's hand whipped out, taking hold of Flint's wrist. It was apparent to Lev that Sylvia's parent was far stronger than him, and that he probably wasn't making the best first impression, but the glare on his tear-stained face didn't give the allusion of caring.

"D-Don't you dare...call the n-nurse." Lev coughed out, fighting back his sobs to get a coherent sentence out. While he was speaking, he wanted to get a word in edgewise against Vance's mother, but all he could do was glare at her. No words came to mind now that he was finally in the moment. Instead, Lev looked back at Flint. Why was he bothering with Lev? Clearly he was fine. The ravenette wanted to say so, but the words wouldn't come yet again. Then Lev came to terms with the fact that he didn't really care what Flint did.

Because Sylvia was still alive.

With deft hands, he gripped Flint's shoulders and began to use his semblance. It hurt. Gods did it hurt. Lev was growling through the migraine as he taxed himself, but he did it anyways. With his grip in check, he whipped his body out of bed, and used Flint as a platform to throw himself straight out of the door. He used his semblance once more to catch himself before slamming into the wall, but it didn't stick. Lev overestimated himself; his focus and his aura. He instead flew into the wall back-first, crumpling into a heap at it's base. But the ravenette refused to let this be the end. From the moment he "woke up," Lev felt like he was still fighting for his and his team's lives. His whole body had been tense, yearning for the chance to move and attack, even if it couldn't handle it; a mental disconnect, but he was gonna fight anyways. With fingers and nails, Lev began to claw himself away, calling Sylvia's name as loudly as he could. It wasn't very loud, but he strained himself regardless as he slugged along. His legs weren't helping him, he couldn't constrict his midsection to help caterpillar himself across the floor. Even his arms lost the will they had to lift themselves. His body was falling back asleep, but he was still wide awake, tears flowing, teeth gritting, voice cracking; a barely active corpse as it were...but he pushed regardless, desperate to see his leader; his only friend; his biggest crush; the one who made him fight for others in the first place.
 
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Flint blinked as Lev reacted harshly, jumping out of bed and making a run for it. "H-hey! Wait!" He called, getting up to chase after the boy. Luckily Lev didn't make it far as he laid on the ground. Getting closer, Flint felt his heart constrict at the sight of Lev calling out for Sylvia as he desperately tried to find his missing leader. Biting his lip, Flint approached carefully before scooping Lev up. The silver haired man cradled Lev close to his chest as he brought him back to his bed, pressing the call nurse button while he settled Lev back down. "She's gonna be all right. You'll get to see Sylvia soon, I promise." Flint soothed, keeping a firm hand on Lev's shoulder to not only keep him in place but ground him. "You can't see her right now since they're still working on her, but I swear she's gonna be here soon with the rest of your team, all right? Right now, you just gotta focus on making sure you're healthy and better when you see her. You're safe, your whole team is safe, and everything's going to be all right."

As the nurses came in, Flint kept a hold of Lev one way or another. They checked over the boy's vitals and gave him a sedative to help him go back to sleep. As the drug started to take effect, Valerie walked over to Flint, looking reluctant but determined as she avoided any and all eye contact. "... I apologize for my rash behavior earlier. I just... I've already lost two children and seeing another one lying there, almost dying..." She trailed off, turning to stare at the wolf boy who laid peacefully quiet.

Taken aback by the apology, Flint frowned as he realized how horribly he handled the situation. "I'm sorry too. I could've, and should've, handled that a lot better than I did." With that out of the way, the two adults started to discuss somewhat amicably as unconsciousness started to take Lev in its hold.

~~~

When he next awoke Flint and Valerie were gone, having taken the young faunus with them. Despite the dark skies outside the window next to Reyna, the room was still cheerily lit. Seats were pulled out, signifying whoever had been sitting in them left recently. It seemed most likely that SLVR's guests had left to get something to eat or maybe even get some rest for the night. Whatever the reason, the team was left alone, still sans Sylvia.

A few minutes after Lev awoke, Vance started to stir. He scrunched up his nose, blinking as he realized just how sore he was. Groaning, the wolf boy tried to sit up only to grunt and fall back on the bed with a FWUMP. Everything hurt and he couldn't quite remember how he got wherever he was. He remembered seeing more students than usual and then... He lurched back up, panting as he leaned forward to try and support himself. They had been fighting his dad. Lev was tied up. Sylvia lost her legs. Rain... Vance swiveled around, trying to locate all of his teammates and the threat. His pupils were blown wide, his ears swiveling to catch every and all sound it could. He couldn't find his dad or his siblings. Did that mean they ran away? Without him? Something must've happened.

He took in the beds they were sleeping on. Obviously this wasn't their room. Lev and Rain were on beds, Rain with a heavily bandaged shoulder and Lev looking pale and unlike himself. Good, that was two of his teammates accounted for, but what about his leader? Vance felt ice flood his veins. No... No, his dad couldn't have! Tears started to pool in his eyes as he tried to deny the morbid thoughts flooding his brain. His family had already hurt his teammates, why not kill his leader? The wolf boy started to shake as he hiccupped and sobbed.
 
Being nestled up against Flint was somewhat comforting, but the second his bed came back into view, Lev began to struggle. Or at least he tried to. He could barely wiggle his head, much less move his limbs. He was a rag-doll in the hands of the hunter. Then when he didn't think it could get any worse, Flint called the nurse anyways! Lev tried to yell out in opposition, but he lost the rest of his voice calling out for Sylvia. All he could do was watch, eyes dilating, heart-rate increasing, tears falling, as he was sedated. Please, gods, don't do this! Don't put me down again! I won't go back again!!!

But his thoughts didn't reach past his own consciousness. The sedative took it's effect almost immediately, something Lev knew would happen all too well. Soon enough he was in a catatonic state, left to wait for sleep to finally take him. Watching the two parents make up was a bittersweet addition to the mix of terror and rage swirling in his head, but it all went black before he could appreciate it.

-

Then he woke up again. The same way. The same tension. The same exact feeling. His mind was still running at the exact same pace, his eyes darted around with their usual analytical skill, and his body...still wouldn't move for him. It wasn't long after that he heard Vance make noise. Pooling saliva along his tongue and throat, Lev spoke out with a broken voice, knowing exactly what was going through the wolf boy's head. "Sylvia is in the hospital with us! She's going to be f-fine! Her dad is here, and..." Lev wasn't sure whether he should tell his teammate about their other visitors, but went for it anyways, "and your mom, and two kids are here as well... I don't know what happened... T-Try and get some rest."

He did it. He had been brave for Vance's sake, but his physical condition was too weak to give away the emotions coursing through the ravenette's veins. They had left him with his thoughts again, and soon enough, the migraine set in once more. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead as he fought in total silence against the pain. It wasn't worth worrying Vance over, and it definitely wasn't something he wanted a nurse or doctor to catch wind of.

Meanwhile, Reyna continued to sleep. However, since Lev's sedation, she seemed to have obtained a balloon tied neatly around her bedpost. It floated comfortably above her head; a soft, deep blue to calm the room's lively lighting.
 
Vance blinked as Lev started to explain. The hospital... So they were in a hospital. Good, everyone was alive. His mind froze when Lev mentioned his mother. She had actually come? Last time they spoke she had told him she wouldn't see him again unless he was dead or he was a successful hunter. The two kids must've been Arthur and Leyla. Maybe they had convinced her to come? Vance wasn't sure, but he sure knew that he didn't want to keep resting as Lev suggested. He wanted to see Sylvia and talk to his mom and talk to Rain and-

His thoughts froze as he remembered that Rain was sleeping on a bed, heavily injured. His tears started to come anew, the wolf boy laying down as he felt his arms grow tired from trying to hold himself up. He shifted, turning toward Lev as he realized just how much trouble he had caused his team by running off to confront his father. Rain was quite clearly severely injured, Lev looked like a ghost, and who knew what happened to Sylvia. The wolf boy sniffled as he started to speak again. "I-I'm sorry... I was stupid and I got all of you hurt and now we're all here and..." He trailed off, wiping away his tears. He looked Lev over, frowning at how sweat seemed to bead at his forehead before apologizing again. "I'm so sorry..." The wolf boy wasn't sure what to do other than apologize to his teammate and wait for him to declare how much he hated Vance for getting them into this situation and being associated with the White Fang to some extent.

~~~

Flint sighed as he walked down the halls of the hospital room, carrying a few cups of pudding in one hand and his scroll in the other. Of course his wife was doing everything she could to try and get to their daughter, but it looked like it would still be a while for her to show up. The man had managed to get permission to stay past normal visiting hours to stay with his daughter and her team. The silverette wasn't doing too well. She hadn't been lucid when she woke up last, fever distorting her world as she had rambled to her father. It was disheartening to think about, but Flint refused to give up hope. His daughter would pull through. She would be fine. Putting away his scroll, Flint adjusted the pudding cups in his grasp. Now he just had to get these to the rest of SLVR. The poor teens probably hadn't eaten much yet and pudding was calm enough for them to take in, surely. If they weren't awake he supposed he just had to leave these for when they next awoke.
 
"Don't you start with me!" Lev declared, albeit more rough than he expected from himself. He grunted as he attempted to look over at Vance, pain sparking defiance in his eyes. "You ran away from your team, Vance. You never run away from your team! ...I should know. I spent a good chunk of my life doing just that..." Lev thought through what he wanted to say before continuing on, focusing on his words in the hope that his migraine would dissipate. He still couldn't move his body, but at least his jaw had loosened up. "Your problems aren't your problems anymore, Vance. That's what having a team means. We fight together. We hurt together. We lose together... and we get back up, together. More than that, you're a part of our family now, and if I don't care that some of your kin are wrapped up in the White Fang, then neither will Sylvia or Reyna. So relax, and start recovering. At least wait to say you're sorry until you can back it up with a hug or something..."

"...Y-Yeah, Vance..." Reyna's voice squeezed into the conversation as she rolled her head over to look at her partner. The movement brought a wince to her face, but she smiled regardless. "W-We love you...Don't leave us again, okay? Or I'll beat you up or...or wh-whatever..." Her encouragement lasted a short while before she fell back asleep, still dealing with the grogginess of medicine along with the lingering shock of pain.

-

While Flint walked, a door opened from the side of the hall, and out stepped a man, directly into the silver haired father's path. The collision was practically predestined, and pudding cups spilled to the floor. A beat passed, then another, before the mystery man picked himself up, dusted off his pitch-black suit and short, curly blonde hair, and looked at Flint with a sigh. "I'm sorry about that. I must be a bit jet-lagged." The mystery man pushed up his glasses before picking up a few of the cups, then returning to Flint with a hand extended in aid. "I assume you're one of the parents to the children if you're here this late. I was just about to check on them myself. After all, I'm a doctor." As they walked down the hall, the blonde extended his hand and gave a smile. "Call me Ethan. Ethan Castor."

It didn't take long before the adults arrived, and the expression on Lev's face when he saw who came to visit said everything... everything. Absolute, unending, raw terror colored the boy's crimson eyes. It was his father, in the flesh. He coughed a moment before acknowledging the inevitable, unable to close his eyes at the sight. Flint wasn't even a factor in the equation.

"F-Father..."

And just like that, Ethan's expression when it was just Flint changed. His civil smile was replaced with a purely business straight lip line. First he walked to Vance, giving him a proper looking over, even bothering to check his pupils, pulse, and other basics. "Just relax, alright? The staff here is well-trained. You're all in amazing hands." He said, genuinely, with a smile. Not the same civil smile Flint saw, but a smile none-the-less. Then he moved to Reyna, clicking his tongue as he realized she was still asleep. "She turned a bit... That's a good sign. By her next checkup, they can lower the dosage of meds to help the healing along naturally. Aura is such a fantastic concept..." Ethan stood there a moment longer, as if biding time before looking at the ravenette.

"Father?" Lev asked this time, a bit of curiosity and concern lacing his face through the nightmare he seemed to be enduring.

"What did they give you." There was no reassurance. No relaxed tone. This was mechanical routine for Ethan now, and the moment Lev heard the phrase, it kicked in for him too.

"Sedative."

"Dosage?"

"Unsure."

"Did you refuse it?"

"I tried."

"Hmm..." Ethan stopped his questioning, and Lev let out a massive breath, as if the interrogation had been choking him. "Well you're lucky I came. You forgot to take your set with you to Beacon. Here, I brought one just in case." Then Mr. Castor pulled out a small vial about three inches tall, filled with a clear, brown liquid, and corked tightly. Popping the top, Ethan administered it to Lev without skipping a beat, and Lev took it in the same manner.

After coughing down the taste, the ravenette looked up at Ethan, letting a bit of hope color his cheeks. "F-Father, wh-" But the blonde's stoic-ness finally broke down, and with a swift hand, he slapped Lev across the face. Ethan turned around and faced down Flint momentarily, his expression demanding the silverette to stand down with a resolute command, before turning back to the boy that was once his son.

"You dragged me on an express flight here, and wasted many hours of good work, as a delivery man for medicine that's worth more than you!? Why am I on your emergency contacts still? Didn't Leila handle it?...No, you're legally an adult. You would've had to confirm the change. You didn't, did you? This is a breach of your contract, just so you know." Ethan ran a hand through his hair, shivering in frustration as his relaxed facade fell apart. "Let me make this clear, Leviathan Castor..." Lev nearly choked at hearing his full name, but it didn't slow his used-to-be father down. "You chose this. You were given chances. We supported everything you did. We laid down the conditions, and you agreed, one-hundred percent. Now the papers are carried through. The court acknowledges it, the banks acknowledge it, and now the hospitals will too. Know your place, disobedient lout!"

Lev could only sit there, mouth agape and eyes wide, as Ethan ran his hand through his hair again, turning to the door and walking out with a parting, "...damn waste of time..." Leaving everyone in silence, and Lev in quiet tears.
 
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Despite the hurt of disappointing his team stabbing him like a knife, Vance could feel his heart warm as his teammates explained that they still liked him (loved him even!) and that the real problem was him running away instead of explaining his problems. He nodded, choking out, "R-right... Thanks guys..." Before cuddling up in his bed. He was determined now to get better, if only so he could properly hug his teammates once he got better! As he got back into a resting position, the wolf boy couldn't help but crave his boyfriend's cuddles. Oh gods, did Gabe know what happened? What would he think? Would he hate Vance? The wolf boy chewed on his lip, his thoughts going down a different rabbit hole of horrible thoughts as they tried to get him to go to sleep.

~~~

Flint had been happily on his way when he crashed into someone and spilled his precious cargo. He grunted and immediately started to pick up the sweet treats as the stranger apologized. "Oh, no, it's all right! I probably should've looked where I was going first. As the man accurately stated why Flint was there, the silver haired man's smile fell into a more melancholy as he nodded. "Yeah, I'm staying with my daughter. I thought I'd give the other kids something sweet to munch on since they're all stuck here." He explained, adjusting his hold on the pudding to make them more secure. As the stranger, Ethan, introduced himself, Flint freed a hand and shook Ethan's. "I'm Flint Slater. It's nice to meet you!" With that out of the way, Flint walked with Ethan thinking that maybe this man was a pretty stand up guy!

He was proven wrong within five seconds of stepping into the room. As soon as Flint saw the look cross Lev's face, he knew something had to be up. He stiffened, waiting for the reveal. He checked over the other two as a doctor normally would, taking care to show some form of empathy. Vance seemed to notice his teammate's reaction to the man, with the utterance of 'Father' provoking an immediate urge to get the man away from Lev. The wolf boy glared at Ethan, nearly letting out a growl as he kept a close eye on the blond. Sure, Vance couldn't move much, but he would sure as hell try if the man tried anything funny.

The moment came when Ethan showed his true colors, speaking to his own son as if he were speaking to a beast. Flint could feel his muscles tensing, his fingers twitching as if they wished to reach for his weapons. The man's words incited a rage that Flint hadn't felt in a long time. With every new word, the urge to just drop everything and teach this man how a father should treat his child became stronger and stronger. The slap was the last straw. Flint had started to move towards Ethan when he just brushed past him, muttering about everything being a waste of time. Vance had started growling in the background, glaring at where Ethan had left. Flint simply stood, taking deep breaths as he glared at nothing. Finally he started to move, dividing his spoils into thirds and setting them on each of the team's night stands. Vance stopped his growling as he looked up at the new man, suspicious eyes following his every move.

Flint finished his rounds by depositing the last of the puddings on Lev's table, pulling up a seat, and sitting down. Sighing, he gave Lev a sympathetic smile. "Hey there, sorry about the whole scare I put you through earlier today. My name's Flint Slater. I'm Sylvia's dad. I decided to bring you guys some pudding since they probably haven't given you all much to really eat here besides the 'nutritious' things." He rolled his eyes, producing three spoons as he went about and set them by each teen. Coming back to Lev, he smiled as he settled back down. "You must be Lev! Sylvia talked a lot about you earlier when I visited her." He looked over at the wolf faunus, nodding to him. "And you must be Vance. It's nice to finally meet you both! I'm sure I'll get to properly meet your third teammate once she's feeling a bit better." Flint seemed to radiate fatherly concern as he looked over the two boys.

Taking one of the pudding cups, he peeled the top off and put a spoon in it, setting it close enough to Lev so that he could reach it if he wished to. "I've found when bad things happen a good cup of pudding makes me feel better. Well, that and a hug, though I'm pretty sure you'd rather not get a hug from your friend's dad, huh?" Flint joked, shrugging before continuing on. "Anyway, it looks like you need a new emergency contact. Well, I'd have to know your allergies and medical info, but that'll be easy to figure out. I'd also need to know what you just took was if you need to take it regularly. It's important to have that info as a hunter! Oh! Shoot, I mean, if you need someone as an emergency contact and you don't have anyone then I'd be more than willing to help out if you need it. Then again, that's only if you're comfortable with it and everything... Ah that was probably too forward of me, huh?" The silver haired man rambled. Despite his heart burning with the need to run after Ethan and give him a piece of his mind, Lev needed help first. Seeing the boy cry made Flint just want to scoop him up and give him a warm hug until Lev felt safe again.
 
It took the ravenette a while to wake up to reality, and Flint was right there to welcome him into it. The man rambled, gave him pudding, acted worried... The sympathy tore at Lev, making him uncomfortable. His chest felt constricted, his face burned red on one side from the slap, and all he wanted was someone to blame. Then, all of a sudden, Flint was to blame.

"You did this to me..." He spoke through weighty tears and hiccups. The words tasted bitter coming up, just as his medicine did going down. "Y-You...you called the nurse, a-and... If you hadn't, father would...f-father would still..." Lev couldn't press on from there. Father would still love me, he wanted to say, but the words would rather choke him than be spoken sincerely. The medicine started to kick in, taking away the cluster in his head, and giving his muscles leave to move, but now that he had the ability, all Lev could stand to do was curl in on himself.

But he still yearned to move; to exhaust himself so he could fall asleep for real, so in an instant Lev sat up from his bed, ready to let everything out against Flint. "This is you're fault!" He cried, his voice coming stronger since taking the medicine, though still broken up by the massive amounts of crying he'd been doing. "You've got no right to be sorry! I told you. I told you!" The words weren't enough to satisfy the crushing pressure in his chest. With his fists balled, he swung slowly and pitifully at Flint, his fist plodding softly against the man's shoulder. The hits continued as Lev kept speaking. "You got me put under. You don't have any idea what that's like for me! Couldn't you see me fighting it? I... I-I hate you!" Lev's fists unclenched into palms, then into fingers, and soon he wasn't hitting Flint, but rather grasping desperately and weakly onto him. "I hate you. I hate you. You and your daughter. You and Sylvia. I hate you... Stop caring about me! Stop c-caring... I d-don't want you t-to..." By this point, Lev had his arms around Flint, though he wasn't aware of it himself, hugging the silver haired man despite his profession of hate. His sobbing finally reached a climax, and for the first time in what felt like eternity, the ravenette simply wailed out his sorrow, muffling himself with the older Slater's shoulder.
 
Lev's outburst shocked Flint at first. He could only blink and stare as Lev blamed him for Ethan's attitude and treatment. Despite the shock, Flint took it in stride as he let Lev get whatever he was feeling out. He waited for Lev to tire himself out, but the raven haired boy continued to surprise him. Gently, Flint wrapped his arms around Lev before pulling him into a tight hug. He hummed and soothed Lev, rubbing his back and mumbling words of support. For however long Lev needed him, Flint kept the boy in a tight hug. Once Lev had tired himself out and gotten all of his crying done, Flint helped him back into his bed. The silver haired man made sure all three of the teammates were sleeping soundly and taken care of before leaving for the night, back to his own daughter.

~~~

The next day, Vance's family was back sitting at his bedside. The two kids played rock, paper, scissors as their mother read. Calm seeped throughout the room, comforting the inhabitants as the wolf family waited for Vance to wake up. With a groan, the wolf boy started to stir, interrupting the trio in their musings. They waited with bated breath as Vance's eyes blinked open. He yawned, about to sit up when two weights tackled him. "Oof! What the-" He started, blinking as he recognized the fluffy heads nuzzling into him. "A-arthur? Leyla?" He gasped, ignoring his sore arms as he crushed the twins in a hug. "I missed you guys so much! How did you get here? What are you guys doing here? I thought..." The wolf boy trailed off as he looked at his younger siblings.

"We came when we heard you got hurt! We were so worried, Vance!" The girl, Leyla, cried as she snuggled into her older brother. "People said that you... That you had died!" She wailed, snuggling her head into Vance's shoulder, taking in her brother's comforting scent.

The young boy, Arthur, continued where his sister had left off. "Mom took us here as soon as we got the letter! You wouldn't wake up, Vance, no matter how much we shook you! Mom said we weren't supposed to do that, but we just wanted to make sure you were still okay and you weren't gone like Dad and Ed and Ferris." He rambled, his tiny arms tightening their hold on Vance's neck. His words made Vance freeze, slowly adjusting the two younger faunus to look at his mother.

"Mom...?" He questioned, looking over at the woman. Valerie looked tired, bags under her eyes and her clothes rumpled. Her eyes glistened in the light. Vance had been about to call out to her again when she swept all three children into a hug. The wolf boy blinked, the familiar yet forgotten feeling of his mother's embrace surrounding him. He blinked as he felt wet drops fall down on his back. Was his mother... crying?

Valerie shook as she held her remaining family in her arms, tears dripping down her face. "Oh gods, Vance, I'm so happy you're alive..." She sobbed, squeezing her children tighter to her. "I was so wrong before. I was so afraid of losing you that I pushed you away myself. Oh Vance, I got so scared when they told us you were in the hospital. I thought we lost you, I thought I lost you..." The family simply stayed in their embrace for a while, each soaking up the warmth of being reunited.

After being cuddled together for a while, Valerie finally let her children go. Arthur and Leyla let go of Vance to give him some room to breathe as they all waited for his reaction. "So..." The wolf boy started. "I... Am I still banned from coming home?" He finally asked, looking up at his mother with wide eyes.

The reaction was nearly immediate. "No, no of course not! I... I made a big mistake with that Vance. You can come back home whenever you want or need. I just... I'm so glad you're okay." Valerie sighed, running a hand through her baby boy's hair. "Though I expect you to introduce me to your team once they are all up for it." She started, a motherly tone intertwining with her relief.
 
It took Lev a long time to settle himself, unable to find a happy medium between verbally attacking Flint and desperately clinging to him for some sort of support. It was all muddy to Lev now. Eventually he exhausted himself naturally, falling asleep with a snore. When he next woke, it was a slow, painful experience. He finally felt the aches and bruises on his limbs. His mouth was sticky and dry, and his eyes were struggling to crack open. Most importantly though, he was groggy. Voices warbled at his side, but he had lost the focus to hear them right away. Flint was gone, and so was Sylvia, but his heart rate only rose a little. He could feel the sting of tears from before in the creases of his eyes, but he wasn't crying anymore. Finally, Lev felt tired of fighting. Despite that, he still wanted to know what was going on with the voices, so he began to put his mind to listening in on the conversation...then he stopped.

Lev wasn't sure how to feel about Vance's mom anymore. "Conflicted" was the word he wanted, but "Betrayed" was what he thought first. It shouldn't have hit him this hard, how Valerie was so open to letting Vance go home after seeing how he got hurt, but something continued to reverberate in the back of Lev's head, cutting deep into his friendship with the wolf boy. No-Home Buddy. No-Home Buddy. That's what we were, and now... The ravenette did his best to turn away from the happy family, curling into himself as well as he could to accept the loneliness the world seemed to want to shove on him. Sure, I'm happy for Vance...but what about me?

-

Meanwhile, a loud, gruff voice could be heard echoing down the hall. It seemed to grow closer at first, but after a loud shush interjected, it quieted down, only to be replaced by unintentionally loud footsteps. Soon the source of the noise, Reyner, stood in the door of SLVR's hospital room, holding a couple balloons, one red and one yellow, looking incredibly uneasy.

"Dear, would you just-" Marie huffed, shoving her husband through the doorway so she could get in as well. Her attempts were futile, but Reyner got the hint and ducked under the doorframe to let his wife through. The small woman seemed eager to get to her daughter, but Valerie's presence stopped her enthusiasm, and she too stood with Reyner, looking incredibly uneasy.

"So, are you-" Reyner attempted to speak up, but Marie's eyes caught fire in immediate reaction. Rather than chop him in the head as she usually did, her hair unwound itself from its scarf-like style and instead wrapped around her husband's mouth. He knew the drill at this point, and didn't bother to continue speaking as his wife did damage control that, to him at least, was completely unnecessary.

"S-Sorry to disturb you!" She began nervously, not sure what she should make of the situation. The last she heard, half of the poor wolf boy's family was in the White Fang, and his mother had banished him from his own home. A mother like that had to mean trouble, and yet she, and Vance, and her other children, all seemed to be happy on the whole. "We are Reyna's parents. I'm Marie, and this oaf is Reyner. We were just going to check on our daughter, but if you need some space, we can go and get some snacks for you all!" Marie smiled, but Reyner was less amicable than his wife.

"I was gonna say," Reyner spoke up, tugging down his wife's hair with a sigh, "are you Vance's mom? We saw Flint in the cafeteria last night, but haven't talked to him yet." He lied. He had wanted to ask if she was in the White Fang. Unlike his wife, his memory of what Reyna disclosed over the phone wasn't so clear, including the part where she said DON'T TELL ANYONE. At least Marie had been there to save him from that situation. "And, if it's all the same to you, I'm going to sit with my girl." He looked at his wife, she looked back, and after a brief stare down, she gave in, loosing her hair from her husband. With a glint of victory in his eyes, Reyner lumbered over to his daughter's side, then thought better of it, and first went to Lev's bed. After a lot of fumbling, he got the red balloon tied to the post. Then he ducked down to check on Lev, whispering a "get well, girly," before moving on. Lev had to bite his tongue from saying anything back.

Then he walked over to Valerie. "I...I got this for Vance, if you don't mind." And with a short bow of the head, he stepped to the wolf boy's post and tied the balloon to it. Then he looked down at Vance. Were it not for his mass of facial hair, it'd be easy to tell his expression, but instead he looked stoic as ever. "I'm glad to see you're okay, Vance." He spoke plainly, though it seemed like he wanted to say something else. Instead, he moved on to Reyna, finally taking a seat at her side.

"I suppose if he's staying, I'll sit along with him, just to make sure he isn't trouble. Oh, and Vance dear, please let me know if I can get you anything." Marie smiled before taking a spot next to her husband, who had begun to brush his large, meaty hand along her soft pink locks. He wasn't crying, but a few sniffs from the giant's nose made it apparent that he wanted to.
 
The Faolan's turned to the door when they started to hear voices, Vance relaxing as he recognized Reyna's parents. Valerie could practically taste the uneasiness, the couple's awkward introduction fueling her own uneasiness. She kept her eyes on the couple, relaxing just a bit as Marie and Reyner spoke to her and her family as if they were people, neither of them making brash assumptions. Despite this, Valerie still kept a bit of a wall up as she responded to them. "No, no, it's quite all right. As much as I want to stay with Vance, I should probably take these two to get some food." She stood up, getting ready to gather her children. At Reyner's question, she could practically hear what he wanted to ask instead. Her stance stiffened, her ears swiveling back in defense. "Yes, I am Vance's mother." She pulled the twins closer to her side, ignoring their whines of protest. She had been about to leave with a bitter taste in her mouth when Reyner came over to give her son a balloon. The gift seemed quite simple and childish in some respects, but the fact that the man included her son and even showed his relief at the boy being all right left a warm feeling in her heart.

Vance blinked as he received a balloon similar to Lev's and Reyna's. As Reyner spoke, the wolf boy felt a smile stretch across his face. "Th-thank you sir!" He exclaimed, glad that his best friend's parents seemed to not hate him. He blinked as Marie offered to get him anything if he needed it. With a warm smile, he nodded as he settled back into bed. He had been about to give his family a quick hug goodbye when yelling interrupted him.

Flint's familiar voice quickly carried as he was once again yelling at a doctor, this time a feminine voice following him to try and calm him down. "You didn't have to see her this morning! First, you're trying to cut her arm off, now you won't let her be with her teammates? She needs to be with her team! You didn't hear her crying for them when she woke up this morning! This is the least you could do for her! Don't you just walk away from me!" Flint's angry tone bounced off the walls, the man obviously pissed once again. Hopefully this wouldn't become a regular occurrence.

"Hon, please, the doctor is doing all he can for her right now. You need to calm down or you'll be bothering all of the other patients." The feminine voice soothed, sounding close to Flint.

The group stopped in front of SLVR's room once more, the doctor looking more haggard than before. "Look, sir, we're doing our best. I'll make you a deal, all right? If, IF, your daughter is well enough by tonight then we will move her to her team's room. We understand how important it is to keep teams together when dealing with hunters and hunters-in-training. If it wasn't serious we would have kept her in there from the get go. For now, you need to be patient. We're doing our best, I promise." With that the doctor left Flint and the woman alone.

As the doctor left, Flint would have continued fuming if he didn't notice that they were once again standing in front of SLVR's room. He deflated as he entered the room, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, I'm sorry everyone. I didn't mean to disturb you at all out there." He gave a sheepish smile, though his stance was still stiff and his eyes burned with the need to chew someone out.

Vance turned to Flint with wide eyes, having heard for the first time a bit about Sylvia's situation outside of Lev's assurances of her well-being. "They're... They're going to cut Sylvia's arm off?" Vance whimpered, tears starting to shine as he worried over what was going to happen to his leader. Seeing her son's distressed state, Valerie quickly rushed to comfort the boy.

Flint realized his mistake as he tried to fix it. "Ah, geeze, Vance, that's... That's not for sure. But, we can't go giving up on her yet! Sylvia's a tough girl. She'll get through this." He reassured, moving to take a seat by Lev's bed.

"He's right you know." The woman who had been with Flint spoke up. She stood tall, her hair shaved on the sides where most of it sat on top falling into a tip on her forehead. The woman was covered in tattoos, a myriad of artwork working all the way from her wrists to her chest and down her legs from what her pants showed. Like Flint, she also wore hunting gear with an empty holster on her back instead of the holsters at Flint's waist. Her most prominent tattoo was of a fox sitting right in the middle of her chest. She had green eyes like Flint, but her hair was dyed a silvery color with dark gray roots poking out. Piercings littered the woman as her ears seemed full of them while she had at least three on her eyebrow, two lip rings, and a nose ring. It almost seemed as if this woman was a more extreme version of Sylvia. "Sylvia's tough, but she's also stubborn. She's going to get better and soon enough she'll be right as rain and with you all again."

Once Vance had calmed down some, the new woman introduced herself. "My name is Galena Slater. I'm Sylvia's mom. It's nice to meet you, Vance. I assume you're his mother? It's wonderful to meet you too." Galena smiled, holding her hand out for the faunus woman to shake.

Valerie looked incredulous at the other woman before gently taking her hand and relaxing. "Yes, I'm Vance's mother. My name is Valerie Faolan. These two here are his little brother and sister, Arthur and Leyla." The woman explained, gently herding the children in front of her. "I was just about to go and get some lunch for them actually." Despite this, Valerie seemed reluctant to leave her injured child.

"Ah, well don't worry. I'm sure Vance'll be fine while you eat. Besides it looks like these little ones are itching to do something other than sit in a chair." Galena joked, kneeling down to look at the two youngest faunus and give them each a poke in the stomach. "Besides, I'm sure he'll be able to get some more visitors soon since I overheard that the doctors are letting non-family members visit soon." Vance perked up at that, his mind immediately going to a certain panther faunus whose cuddles he had been missing dearly. With that reassurance, Valerie headed off with the twins.
 
Reyna's parents gave a refreshed smile, free of unease now that Vance was happy with their presence. Of course, as soon as they had gotten comfortable with their seats, voices ruined the peace from outside the room. Reyner and Marie stood up immediately to meet the oncoming source of the outraged voice, but relaxed upon seeing Flint. Even if he looked miffed, it was nice to see another hunter or two. The up-and-down emotional trek wasn't done yet though. Vance's comment brought shivers up the pinkette's parents' spines, the concern in his voice reminding them of how serious the situation was. Luckily there were plenty of well-versed parents hanging around. After a bit of back and forth, Vance was calmed, and introductions were made.

"Galena, huh? And you're Flint if I remember right. Heard about you two before; some solid reputations if I may say so." Reyner smiled, bringing himself over to each of them to shake their hands. Around the hunters, Reyner seemed infinitely more at ease, his big-boned form slouching into a more pudgy, teddy-like stance. Marie caught on to this change at once, and latched onto her husband to take advantage of the temporary pillowy belly.

"Hello! Your daughter was such a sweetheart when we spoke last. We all wish her the best, truly." Marie bumped up her enthusiasm a bit as she spoke. "Oh, but you must not know us. I'm Marie, and this is my husband, Reyner. We're Reyna's parents."

"I'm sure they could guess, Marie."

"Well, you never know! We could've been-" Lev's parents... Marie wanted to say, but a final figure in the doorway cut her short. The room was crowded as it was, but that didn't stop the stranger from walking straight to Lev's bed. Of course, it was a stranger to everyone but Flint. He set a briefcase down under the bright red balloon before turning to the parents, pushing up his glasses with a sigh.

"Flint, nice to see you again." Ethan breathed in, as if taking offense to the mass of people in the room, then opened his case to check the contents, placing a few vials of Lev's medicine from before in front of the boy's hair-hidden face and looking down on him with a glare. After a moment's observation, he stood straight and frowned, speaking directly to him.

"To think I'd have my name dragged through the mud by something like you. I thought I raised you better than that, you overgrown brat." He threw out the term with ease, completely disconnected from what should've been his own child. "Your set is under your...balloon." Ethan sized up the gift with distain, and Reyner felt his fists clench in response. "Take one a week to make it last; the less I have to hear from you, the better. IF you run out...call the secretary. Try to keep in line with the contract this time, you scummy little shit." Lev visibly cringed at the last word, confirming his consciousness to every word Ethan leveled at him. With a huff at the confirmation, Ethan began walking away, not at all phased by the presence of a whole host of people who could pummel him into the ground without breaking a sweat, while what used to be his son desperately tried to curl further and further into himself, hiding coughs and hiccups and choking sounds as tears tried and failed to flow.
 
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